Black Butterfly
by Ithilwen Faelivrin
Summary: The Final Battle has been fought, but at a high cost. In a few days, Kagome has lost most of her family and friends, and even her home. There were only four that remained constant in her life, and those four were anything but human.


**Title: **Black Butterfly

**Summary: **The Final Battle has been fought, but at a high cost. In a few days, Kagome has lost most of her family and friends, and even her home. There were only four that remained constant in her life, and those four were anything but human.

**Pairings: **Ichigo/Kagome

**World: **Bleach

**Rating**: T

**Chapter: **One

* * *

_She was his shield and he was her sword, but the shield cracked the sword faltered...one had to be sacrificed...the sword or the shield...one had to meet it's end..._

Kagome was curled up in the bottom of the well, ignoring the acrid scent of smoke and fire that bit at her nose and throat. _Gone._ Almost everyone was gone. Her family had burned. _Was burning_. A pair of strong arms lifted her up out of the ancient, cruel well. She pressed her face to his chest, wanting to hide and cry until the world ended. Everything was burning. It was raining, but it never touched anything. The fire continued to embrace her world with its cruel, wanton touch. Her world was shattered. _Shattering._ Shattered. It had happened in the past and now in the future. Nowhere was safe. There was nowhere to run and hide. This storm would not pass. This would not pass. She had the Jewel, Naraku was dead…yet he had won still. Dead. So many were dead. All she could smell was the scent of blood and ashes and death. It's scent _clung_ to her, she could do nothing to wash it off. _Nothing_.

"Class, please welcome our two new students." Next to the teacher stood a silent pair consisting of one boy and one girl. The boy was tall and pale with straight ivory hair tied up high in a horsetail that reached his waist. He had cold amber eyes set in a beautiful, noble face. The girl next to him was his opposite. A light tan covered her skin and loose, dark curls reached to her waist. Melancholic azure eyes stared out of a delicate, almost doll like face. She barely reached the boy's shoulders.

"I am Sesshomaru Taisho. Kagome is my younger sister. I enjoy kendo." His voice was cold and controlled, fitting his glacial image perfectly.

"M-my name is Kagome Taisho. Sesshomaru is my older brother. I enjoy…kyudo." The girl's voice was soft and sad, but also shy. She lacked the supreme air of self confidence that her brother exuded. Instead, it was as if she wished to be invisible. When she had introduced herself, the cold amber eyes had softened in her direction ever so slightly.

The Shinigami kept a close watch on the two new students. The auras of the two were extremely powerful, even though they appeared to be nothing more than normal humans with an enormous amount of life force. But they knew that appearances were deceiving. The male Taisho was disdainful of all except for his sister who acted like a frightened animal. They were always together and excelled at all the classes, if one had a weakness, the other helped. But what they truly shined at were the History classes and Classical Studies as well as their preferred martial arts. It was as if they lived and breathed the past itself, though when asked by the teachers about her extensive knowledge of myths and mikos, the female Taisho had let slip that they had lived in a shrine before coming to live in Karakura Town. It _could_ explain their large amount of energy for mere humans.

A week had passed since they had moved to the new town and Kagome had begun to make a friendship. It was stilted at first because of her shyness and caution, but the girl Orihime Inoue had been persistent. Kagome built up the courage to approach the girl who was talking to a group that clearly not human nor regular students. Their eyes were that of warriors, fighters, beings that she had left five hundred years in the past. They hid themselves well, but nothing could get past her Aniki, Aneki or Haha-ue, not even the _Shinigami_ themselves. At first, she had panicked, thinking that they were there to harm them or to capture them. But they weren't. They thought that she and her Aniki were…human. How laughable. As if her Aniki could be something so…_ordinary_.

"Inoue-chan…I was wondering if you would like to go shopping with me after school today?"

Ichigo looked up to see the new girl walk towards them and talk to Orihime. She was biting her lower lip and appeared hesistant to even ask Orihime (whose face lit up exquisitely at the shy girl's invitation).

"Of course Taisho-chan! Are you looking for something in specific?"

"Ah…just some things for the house. It doesn't…feel like a home yet with all the new furniture…"

"Okay! Would you like to eat lunch with us, your brother can too!"

"Thank you, but Aniki had to leave early."

"Is he ok?"

"Aniki is fine, it was just…Haha-ue needed his help with…some paperwork." Kagome willed herself to remain calm. In truth, he had to leave early not because Haha-ue needed his help with something as mundane as _paperwork_, but because the police had called to finalize the statement about the fire at the Higurashi Shrine. When her vision focused, it was to see a set of amber eyes staring straight at her.

Ichigo noticed the flicker of despair in the air when the younger Taisho, Kagome, answered about the location of the elder. A red wave of anger washed across of her eyes and the other Shinigami noticed the built up of power that surrounded her…until it receded back into her body. He couldn't help but to stand up and lean close to her when she didn't respond to anything Orihime said. Her blue eyes were devoid of any life. He leaned in closer until he was nearly nose to nose with her. _That_ was when she acted.

With a speed on par with Bankai, Taisho reacted. Her left hand moved up and slammed into his chest, pushing the air out of him and shocking him while her right hand moved to stop him from grabbing her in response.

"Don't touch me…stay away…please…_Inu_…please..._I beg of you..._" Her eyes were still glazed over, but it was as if she were seeing something else, as if she were seeing _someone _else. Then she blinked. "Ah…sorry….I…sorry." With that, she fled before anyone could stop her.

All stared at the bruise on Ichigo's arm that was already beginning to turn purple and they realized that he would probably find a handprint on his chest as well.

"And we're sure she's human?" Ichigo turned towards Rukia with a raised brow.

Before any of the Shinigami even had the thought of chasing after her, Kagome Taisho had already escaped from the school grounds in a blur of black. Barely half an hour had passed and she was already curled up underneath the covers of her bed, desperately wishing that Haha-ue hadn't taken Shippo out.

"Imouto."

At the sound of that cool voice that was so similar to her Aniki, Kagome left the safety of the covers and threw herself at the speaker. "Aneki!" She sobbed into the red silk blouse that her elder sister wore, weeping out of fear for what had almost occured and of hate for herself.

Later, when she had calmed down and her Aneki was brushing out her curls with gentle strokes of a brush, did a conversation start.

"What happened?"

"I panicked. I lost control." Kagome couldn't bring herself to look up and see the disappointment that she was sure was on her Aneki's face.

"You didn't." In a nonchalant tone, her older sister disagreed with her.

"What? But-" Kagome turned to face her, shock on her face. How had she _not _lost control? Anyone within a hundred miles had to have felt that buildup of power!

"This city still stands, does it not?"

"Yes, but now the Shinigami know we aren't human, at least-"

"Psh. As if they can do anything. Haha-ue and Otouto will understand. They will probably consider it a game."

Even so, Kagome refused to attend school for nearly a week. Of course, Sesshomaru would not attend without her. And Shippo decided that he would not either.

Three mismatched Shinigami (Renji, Ichigo and Rukia) and one human (Orihime) stood outside of the elegant, traditional style villa near the outskirts of Karakura Town. None of them were quite sure who should knock first or if they should just enter…until the very person they were looking for came out of the gate.

"Kagome-chan!" Orihime called out to her cheerfully and waved.

'Kagome-chan' merely stared at her, but now that they looked at her, she was a bit different. Her hair was in a different style and was straighter than any of them remembered. The eyes were also darker and was she taller?

"I believe you are looking for my Imouto. _I _am Kikyo." Though she shared her younger sister's coloring, she definitely was closer to Sesshomaru in personality…"I suppose that you are Kagome's classmates? No matter, come."

There was something about her surveying gaze that made the four feel as if they had come up lacking in some manner. It was most definitely not the most pleasant of feelings. Even so, they followed her inside the luxurious mansion, surprised at it's understated elegance and the homey feel that it had to it. There was no lack of paintings, all following fantastical themes of magic and times gone by, they all seemed to have been done by the same hand...perhaps they were heirlooms?

With a startled realization, the four found themselves at the entrance of an archery range with the very person they were looking for standing motionless in a perfect stance with a wooden bow in her hands...


End file.
